52 Small Changes - Week 32

[NightWanderer]

Week 32 - Fried, Fast, and Furious

Certain fats are absolutely necessary to a healthy diet. Eaten in the right amounts, they support essential body function, assist in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, boost metabolism, and help to fight against disease. That said, unhealthy fats, including trans fat and saturated fat, are highly detrimental to your health.

Trans fats are partially hydrogenated fats that are industrially created and are often found in fast food, fried food, some snacks, and baked. These fats raise LDL (bad cholesterol) in the blood and as a result should be eliminated from the diet completely. Saturated fat also negatively impacts health. It can be found not only in animal fat but also many commercially baked goods due to their high content of butter or cream. Most medical professionals and authorities agree it's best to limit consumption of saturated fat due to its correlation with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and increased levels of blood cholesterol.

The Change

Reduce your consumption of fried food, fast food, and commercially baked goods so that you eliminate trans fats completely and reduce consumption of saturated fats.

[NightWanderer]

Last week's challenge

[BewitchedBotheredandBewildered]

Thanks NW

These are getting easier by the week for me, I don't do any of this anyway.

[8FencingWire]

Thank you :)
I don't buy fast food anyway, so what I'll do is have a week with no biscuits/cake etc. Unless they're homemade.

[NightWanderer]

I really love donuts and we have a great donut shop near us. I had no idea they were such a no-no. So homemade bread, cakes and donuts are ok? I don't really know much about trans fats.

[DrDiva]

I have to cook from scratch anyway because of DS's allergies. I do fry, in EVOO or coconut oil. I think it's encouraged on a lc diet but with certain types of fat?... Certainly the college of cardiologists has just said that fat isn't the enemy they thought it was (much to the government's annoyance - those pesky experts )
Don't do it a lot though!

Do you think stir fries count?

[NightWanderer]

The article I read said that fast food restaurants often use trans fats for frying food, especially things like fries and burgers. It also said that commercially produced baked goods can be bad for trans fats but homemade stuff is ok as long as you use canola oil or butter. It also seems that things like some cereal bars, instant porridge, crackers etc. may have partially hyrdogenated fats which are bad. I guess it's down to reading the label, but it seems homemade food is generally ok.

I will post the next challenge. It's not a food/health one so I think most of you will be doing it already... maybe.

[margaritasbythesea]

Nay bother here. I don't think i eat many at all as I am not eating flour and potatoes etc..

Thanks for the thread. I am looking forward to the next. I am in Spain now and trying to find a flat - and also jumping about in the waves on the beach most of the day

[NightWanderer]

Sounds lovely margaritas

Here's the next change